Angelina Perdre
by Anzai Torusama
Summary: And ancient evil, the ones sent to defeat him and the one caught between. Mild Yaoi, scattered scenes of violence, paragraph or two of confusing time-babble... Enjoy.


Yo, Anzai here, I don't own any of these characters cept Ark, Kenjiro, and Terros. Shi belongs to my friend Julia. Enjoy, all!  
ALSO NOTE: Constructive criticism is good. I will feed flames to my dragon Sparky and use them to toast your innards.  
~~Seeya~~  
  
  
"You've got to be kidding." Said Squall Leonhart as he stared at his reflected image.  
Rinoa, behind him, grinned. "I think you look charming." She wrapped her arms around his waist. "Plus, you don't really have a choice in the matter."  
"Why exactly do I need a new outfit? Why can't I just wear what I always..."  
Rinoa cut him off with a bemused expression on her face "Because Quistis dosn't want you showing up at a dinner party for one of Balamb   
Gardens biggest proprietors looking like a refuge from a Chains And Leather convention."  
Squall sighed. Ever since Quistis had been elected Headmistress of Balamb Garden, she'd been a non-stop pain in the ass. "Then why can't I just wear my SeeD uniform?" He asked, exasperated.  
She grinned more broadly "Because Quistis wants you to stand out."  
He sighed again. "And I'm going to stand out by wearing...blue?" He regarded his image, clad in a navy blue suit, with utter loathing.  
"That was another one of her instructions. 'Don't let him wear black or anything with a fur cuff'. Those are her words exactly." He hugged him around the midriff.   
"Nice to know I'm so predictable." He tried to add a scathing edge to his voice, but, with mild irritation, he found that he couldn't. Not when she was smiling at him. Not near him, but AT him. "So, who else is going to be there?"  
"Hm, you, me, Zell, Selphie...oh, hell, the whole group, Nida, Xu, and....oh, darn, can't remember her name...chick from the library, you know, with the ponytail?" Said Rinoa.  
"Yeah." Said Squall vaguely.  
  
"Good god, Rinoa. I didn't think you'd actually be able to do it." Said Quistis, amused.  
Nida and Xu were both staring at Squall with unfettered amazement on their faces.  
"Blessings of heaven," Said Xu breathlessly "He's wearing wool..."  
Rinoa giggled in a manner a shade too far on the impish side to be considered friendly. "Heh, told you they'd like it."  
Nida, still gaping at Squall, completely failed to notice the Garden was very, very close to slamming into a jagged stretch of Centra coastline.  
Quistis, turning around, gave a small scream. " NIDA! Continent off the starboard bow!"   
Nida whirled around, and managed to avert an embarrassing disaster.  
"I'm sorry." Said Nida. " I was carried away by amazement."  
Squall sighed again. "If I'm done being a peice of meat, can I leave?"  
Quistis sighed in disgust "Blue suit or not, he's still the same old Squall. Be on your best bahavior tonight, Squall. Mr. Jennings is especially eager to meet you." She straightened his tie, ever the big sister. "And damnit, TRY to do something about your uni-bang up there."  
"Why is he so eager to meet me?" Asked Squall, mildly irritated.  
The Headmistress sighed, and shook her head, her blonde hair flashing in the sun.  
  
"You nervous?" Asked Rinoa, her arm around Squall's. They walked through the polished marble halls of Xavier Jennings mansion on Deling City's waterfront.   
"Why should I be nervous? " He asked. "I've faced monsters, demons, tyrants, you..."  
She giggled nervously. "Yes, but now we have to deal with stock brokers and patent attorneys. You should be scared."  
Quistis was waiting for them at the entrance, wearing a dress very much like her usual one, only it was made of black silk and was a bit looser.   
He glasses caught the light; for a second she looked like a hawk, piercing and birdlike. "Alright...as I said, best behavior. Rinoa, if Squall does something obnoxious, specifically, rubbing the bridge of his nose, or staring off in the opposite direction seething quietly to himself, poke him in the kidneys. She turned to Zell. "If he keeps it up, throw him in the fountain."  
Zell snapped a salute, his omnipresent and ever-so-slightly insane smirk on his thoroughly scrubbed face "Aye aye, Captain!"  
  
Quistis took upon herself the job on introducing everyone. Nearly everyone at the party was very interested in them, because of their fame and reputations. A less than attractive middle aged woman had cornered Zell and was fawning her even less attractive daughter at him. A man of nearly forty was attempting to make a pass at Selphie, while Irvine , at her side, was deeply regretting that he hadn't brought his shotgun. He was also having trouble concentrating on anything else but the thought of blasting a few rounds of pulse ammo into the lecherous bastards pudgy little face.  
Quistis led a man to where Rinoa and Squall were conversing quietly.  
She smiled as she said "Mr. Jennings, may I present Rinoa Heartilly...you may have already met her... and Squall Leonhart."  
Kenjiro Jennings, who was certainly only a few years, if that, older than Squall, smiled pleasantly at them. He had sleek black hair that he caught into a ponytail, pale skin, and odd ruby eyes, the color of a fine red wine. He took Rinoa's hand and kissed it elegantly. "I do remember you, Miss Rinoa...It was perhaps two years ago?"  
Rinoa blushed, ever so slightly. Squall felt a tiny twinge of anger.  
Simple, stupid, petty minded masculine jealousy. Get over it, Leonhart.  
Kenjiro turned to Squall "Ahh, Squall Leonhart...just the man I wanted to see. Come, sit down, all three of you." He pointed towards the balcony which overlooked the sea; several chairs and a table had been set up.  
They sat down. Jennings ordered some wine from a passing servant, and insisted they all have a glass.  
Kenjiro smiled at them over the rim of his glass, a charming and quite well rehearsed gesture. "Now, I'm afraid this little dinner isn't merely about the chance to meet the heroes who saved the planet."   
No shit. For all your cool, your cunning isn't perfectly disguised.   
Quistis put down here glass a bit to sharply, and a long, high-pitched chime echoed across the balcony.  
Jennings smiled. "I have a business proposition for you all."   
Quistis straightened. "Oh, yes, if you require SeeD, we would be more than happy to supply them at a greatly discounted rate."  
Kenjiro smiled again, this time, though, it failed to reach his eyes, which were like drops of blood in the midst of pure white snow. "I'm afraid I require far more than that...you see, the task I require accomplished will take far more than a few stripling youths in itchy new suits."   
Squall stirred "What are you getting at, Jennings?"  
From across the table, Quistis glared, her teeth on edge and her eyes shot daggers at Squall. Rinoa poked him, hard, in the ribs.  
To his surprise, Kenjiro laughed. "Is he always this direct?" He fixed his maroon eyes on Squall's gray, and Squall had the feeling he was answering some unspoken challenge.  
Quistis laughed as well, a bit more nervously the Jennings, and said, exasperated "Yes, and I wish he wouldn't..." She gave Squall a look that would have etched glass had any been present on Squall's person.  
"Nonsense. It's an admirable trait. Very well, I'll get to the point." Jennings produced a folded map from somewhere on his person; it looked like a satellite image of the Centra Continents. "Do you notice anything...different?" He fixed his eyes again on Squall.  
In fact, he did. The Centra Ruins, which were visible, easily, from orbit, appeared to have moved. It at the end of a deep canyon, carved by a river that apparently had appeared in the seven months since they had last been there. The ruins themselves were surrounded by forest.  
Quistis whistled. "How is this possible? River don't just carve themselves...and forest don't grow overnight." He glasses flashed in the light.  
Rinoa leaned over and gazed at the map. Her fingers circled the Ruins. "There's something else there, too...the ruins aren't that big...and they aren't ruins anymore. How...?"  
Kenjiro said, quietly. "Time compression."   
Quistis stiffened, Rinoa gasped, and Squall, ever the stoic, said nothing.  
He continued. "We believe that this is how the Centra Ruins appeared before they were destroyed by the Lunar Cry. Somehow, when you uncompressed time, this got...left behind. And we also believe that the original inhabitant of this ruin might have come back with it."   
"Are you...talking about Terros?" Said Rinoa quietly.  
Terros, the ancient demon, a mage with power beyond reckoning and wealth beyond imagining. Matron had told him stories about him when he was a kid.   
Kenjiro's eyes glittered "Indeed I am, my lady. When I noticed the alterations in the landscape, I hired a team of mercenaries. Predictably, they never returned."  
Squall asked him incredulously. "Are you suggesting they were killed by Terros?"  
Kenjiro nodded. "Yes, but that's one of many questions I want the team to awnser."  
"The...team?" Asked Quistis  
"Yes, you see, I don't want just any SeeD to accomplish this task....I want the SeeD who defeated the Sorceress." His maroon eyes flicked to each of their eyes.  
"I'm sorry, Mr. Jennings, but I'm afraid I cannot comply with this...my duties as headmistress wouldn't allow me to leave my post..." Began Quistis.  
"I'm willing to pay a considerable amount for your services..." He said.  
"Be that as it may, I'm afraid...Just how considerable?" Said Quistis.  
"Say, 400,000 for each person who goes. And another million for the person who brings me the head of Terros."   
Rinoa gasped.   
Squall, however, wasn't impressed. "Why do you need us to do it?"  
Kenjiro's eyes narrowed. "Because you are the best."  
Quistis, her eyes sparkling, said "We'll be sure to consider it, Mr. Jennings."  
  
Back at the garden, Quistis and Zell were walking towards the library.  
Zell, fidgeting, said "So who's this Kenjiro Jennings, guy, anyway?" He threw a punch at the air besides Quistis' head.  
Quistis, as always mildly irritated by Zell's seemingly endless supply of nervous energy, said "He's one of the Gardens biggest proprietors. He donates large amounts of money periodically. He's twenty two, and inherited his father's business and fortune at seventeen. That's pretty much all we know."  
Zell dropped his arms. "Damn, man. I don't trust this."  
Quistis peered at him carefully. "I don't know about his intentions, but he is paying very real money..."   
Zell looked at her, slightly stunned. "Well, Geez, Quistis, what happened to you? You never would have done this before. No that you're headmistress, all someone has to do is wave some green and..."  
Quistis glared at him fiercely. "Mr. Dincht, whether you approve of my methods or not, I have both a school, a business and a life to run. I would suggest that you keep all your criticism to yourself. I don't need to hear it." She left him outside the library entrance, staring open mouthed at her retreating back.  
She walked up to the desk. Ark, the Library's caretaker, looked up and smiled.  
Ark was nineteen. He wore a pair of black jeans with a multitude of rips and slashes, which had been closed, more or less effectively, with innumerable safety pins. He   
had a black fishnet shirt over his narrow frame, and wore a huge coat that was far to big for him, he had to roll up the sleeves several times to be able to use his hands. He failed the SeeD exams after suffering from   
heart failure during his trip to the Fire Cavern. He suffered from a fatal heart condition, and magic would potentially kill him; his body couldn't handle the stress.  
"Good evening, Mrs. Trepe. What can I do for you?" When he was somber, his features were plain; when he smiled, he was handsome. And he smiled a lot.   
"I'm looking for information on Terros." Said Quistis.  
He smiled more broadly. "Hmm...the ancient city-state, the beverage, or the mythological demon?" Said Ark off the top of his head.  
Quistis smiled back at him. "The demon, please."  
Instead of going around, Ark leapt over the table. He climbed the ladder, slid it over, and grabbed a thick volume off the shelve.  
"Hmm...lets' see... taburclosis, terrarium, Terros. Here we go. 'Demon who controlled and brought order to the elements... was killed by his son, the God Odin,...supposedly lived in the ruins on the Centra continent.' That's it. Damn...that's a little vague." He peered at the book closely. "This is the only book we have... Mythology isn't well covered by the library here." He frowned. "Damnit."   
"Thanks, Ark. It's okay..." Said Quistis. Zell walked in behind her. Ark smiled more broadly at the sight of Zell.  
Arks eerily green eyes met Quistis'. "Forgive me for asking, but is there any particular reason you wish to know?"   
Quistis looked at him; he was acting strange. "Hmm...well, it's no particular secret, I suppose. Kenjiro Jennings has hired SeeD to explore the Centra Ruins..."   
His eyes glittered. "Which SeeD?" He asked, afraid to know the answer.  
"Myself, Squall, Irvine, Seplhie, Rinoa, and Zell..." She said.  
Maybe it was her imagination, but his smile faltered at hearing Zell's name in the list. "Yeah...thanks for telling me..." He said somewhat faintly. His green eyes were suddenly looking past her.   
  
It was nearly midnight.   
Zell stopped outside the door to Ark's room. He knocked. "Hey, Ark? You awake, man?"  
Ark said, from inside. "Come in."  
Zell came inside. The lights were out, and Ark was obviously far from sleep. His pale skin was silver in the moonlight. He didn't turn around.  
"Ark...?" Began Zell. "You looked upset earlier. You okay, man?"  
"Zell...do you remember...when we went to the Fire Cavern two years ago?" His voice was weak.   
"Yeah... right before the field exam..." Said Zell. He didn't know what Ark was getting at.  
"We faced Iftrit... I used magic and it nearly killed me. Do you remember?" Said Ark, slowly.  
"Yeah... damnit, Ark, what are you doing?"  
Ark turned around. His green eyes were filled with tears. "You're the only reason I'm alive, Zell. My heart stopped...and you revived me. Not with magic, but with your bare hands..." He sighed.  
Zell "Ark...what's wrong..."  
"Do you remember what you said? What I said?" Said Ark.   
"Yeah...and I meant it..." Said Zell helplessly.  
"I know, Zell... and I meant it, to. I wish that was enough to base a relationship on, Zell, but it's not."  
"Ark...what are you talking about..." Said Zell.  
"I'm sorry...Zell...so sorry. I do love you...but I'm secondary in your life. Cause there's always something more important in your life. That I can never be a part of, because I'm not a SeeD." He wiped tears from his eyes.  
"Wh-what...?" Said Zell. What was happening.  
"I'm talking about Squall, Zell." Said Ark, crying, but with a sort of finality in his voice.  
"What?!? You think that I...that we..." He couldn't finish. The idea was absurd.  
"No, I don't think you're in love with him, Zell." He slammed his fist onto his desk. "God damn it, though. Sometimes I wish you were. I can compete with another person. But I can't compete...with your loyalty to him. You love me, but you would follow him into hell. Your sense of duty...that's why this relationship can never work, Zell. Because I'm never the primary factor in your life." Ark finished.   
"Well, damnit, Ark, what the hell do you want me to do?" Said Zell.  
"I don't want you to do anything... but you don't understand...when you left for your first mission to Timber...days and days passed. Then weeks. Then word came out you had all been arrested by Galdalbia... I thought you were dead, Zell. And then...when you came back...it was likeyou had come back from the dead. Then you had to leave again. After Ultimecia was defeated, I thought it would be different...but it's not. You're running off with Squall and the others. And I can never be with you where you're going..." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Zell. So, so sorry. But I think it's best for both of us that we go our seperate ways..."   
Zell tried to say something. But what to say? All of it came too late...his relationship fell to peices when he wasn't around to do something about it.  
Ark looked strangely old in the moonlight.  
  
Kenjiro Jennings walked over to his antique phonograph. He began to play some soft music, and the first notes of Polonaise- Fantaisie in A-flat Major, he began to relax.  
He slid into his dressing gown, and poured a glass of dark red wine into a heavy, ornate wineglass. He slipped it cautiously. The taste of such an old vintage was intoxicating in it's own right.  
He sat down into the dark leather of his chair, and sighed. Life was good...and yet...  
"Shi...attend me, now." He said. She was always within earshot.  
Shyara walked into the room. Her green and gray eyes regarded him silently.  
"Contact Quistis Trepe at Balamb Garden...tell her that, when they go to Centra, I will be coming with them.  
Any number of emotions could be conveyed through the stare she gave him now. Questioning, amusement, contempt. Her eyes offered no clues.  
"May I ask why?" She said, slowly.  
His burgundy eyes flashed into hers. Her eyes were odd, he thought, like veins of silver running through sandstone. "You're job is not to question, merely obey." He snapped.  
She waited, patiently.  
"Fine, god damnit. I want to get out of this city. For once. Satisfied?"  
She didn't say anything. She merely nodded, and wearing her silence like a shroud, walked from the room.  
Why do I put up with that bitch? He wondered to himself.   
Because you're human. You fear.  
  
The polished steel of the Exeter welcomed Irvine as he opened his case. Damn, it had been too long.   
He lifted his weapon, his friend, almost reverently from it's case.  
His stereo blared music from speakers which would have made the builders of Stonehenge mad with envy.  
"Prophet six, zero zero nine one, this is the flight number of our orbital sun..."   
His ammo belt once again filled with ammo, Irvine hoisted the silver rifle onto his shoulder. It was heavier than he remembered.  
"Before we start you should know that you're not the only one..."  
He pressed the cool metal against his neck. It smelled, as he used to, faintly of gunpowder.   
"You can hurt me; I can hurt you..."  
It was an extension of himself; it was his power, his tool, his instrument of destruction.  
Prepare to evacuate soul... Thought Irvine to himself.  
With you, my friend, I can take on the world.  
  
Zell dreamt;  
IT was two years ago, the Fire Cavern. Both he and Ark were cocky, self assured. Hell, not even Iftrit scared them.  
"You scared?" Asked Ark, in his voice the faint note of challenge.  
He was young and strong then, not yet taken with the crippling disease that would take both his livelihood and his strength. Power coursed through his wiry frame, and his huge green eyes narrowed on Zell.  
Zell muttered. "Not on your life. How about you, little Arky?"  
Ark paused for a minute. "Perhaps." He said with just a touch of brutal honesty.  
Ark's short sword sliced effortlessly through the flesh of the massive Buel, with a sort of easy grace that Zell hoped he could one day emulate.   
As Zell's gloves slammed into the crippled Buel, performing the final blow, he couldn't help but watch Ark. Ark's green eyes glowed with manic energy, and he grinned with almost sexual satisfaction as the Buel cried out in it's death throes. He sliced his blade several times into thin air, triumphantly. His arm twitched slightly when he was still.   
They were running through the Fire Cavern, racing to Iftrit. "You ready?" Shouted Ark.  
"DAMN STRAIGHT!" Shouted Zell back to him "Let's kick some ass."  
With a roar, Iftrit, Fire Incarnate, arose from a bed of flames.   
"How dare puny ones like you dare to face me!" Roared Iftrit contemptuously.  
"Bite me, you big fiery dog!" Shouted Ark, ever the reckless. His arm twitched again, this time so violently he missed his blow and his sword hit nothing but air.  
"Bitten off more than you can chew, cublet?" Shouted Iftrit.  
Suddenly, blue light glowed around Ark, tipping his eyebrows in frost and causing torrents of steam to rise from the floor of the Fire Cavern. A ball of pure ice formed above Iftrit, and slammed down upon him, shattering into a million steaming pieces.  
The power of the ice spell slammed into Iftrit with the fury of a blizzard. As Iftrit roared, Ark collapsed, cluthcing his chest, as the magic tore through his ailing body.  
"ARK!" Screamed Zell.  
Iftrit regarded them with contempt. "Fragile humans." He turned to return to his pyre. "Return when you are worthy of facing me." He sank back into the pit of fire.  
"Ark...Ark...Ark, wake up!" Zell cast a cure spell. No effect. He cast cure after cure, until sweat ran down his brow and his supply was exhausted. Ark's skin was pure white, flesh sans melanin, and the cure spells had no affect.  
"Damnit...ARK! Don't you DARE fucking die on me now, damnit!"   
He wasn't breathing.  
Zell shouted to the entrance "HELP! Ark is hurt!" He heard the Garden faculty rushing into the cave, but he knew; Ark wasn't going to survive long enough for them to get there.  
He began pumping Ark's chest, forcing air into his collapsed lungs, not willing to let go. Ark coughed, sputtered, and opened his eyes, and said two words;  
" Angelina Perdre." Lost Angel. The he lapsed into unconciousness.   
The Garden Faculty found them at last, and carrying Ark, began to make the long journey home.   
Later, Dr. Kadowaki would attribute it to scar tissue on several of the arterial valves on his heart. It was thanks to Zell, she had said, the Ark was alive at all, but also that he would never be a SeeD.  
Ark had cried.   
It was later, three nights later, after the Dollet Field Exam. There was a gentle knock on the door of his new quarters.  
"Come in." He said absently.  
It was Ark, though not the same Ark has before. Already, he seemed diminished. Three days in the infirmary had sapped him of more then strength. His manic energy was gone. Instead of a touch of insanity, there was a touch of sadness in the depths of his eerily expressive green eyes.  
"Ark, it's nearly midnight..." Said Zell.  
His eyes glittered. "I notice you're not asleep."  
"Look, I'm glad you're up on your feet again, Ark, but I need to get some sleep." He turned over in his bed, the blankets rustling.  
"Zell...I just wanted to tell you...Thanks. You saved my life in the Fire Cavern."  
He sat up in bed then, his blonde hair all over the place. "Don't mention it."  
His eyes were glittering again. "Dr. Kadowaki said...she said that my body can't stand the exertion of using magic...or engaging in combat. There's even a chance I could kill myself, next time I do it."  
"But it's okay, right? She said she'd be able to fix the problem surgically" Said Zell, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  
He sighed, deeply. "No. She can't."  
There was a grim finality in his tone that frightened Zell. "You mean..."  
"I will never be a SeeD. It's dangerous for me to even exert myself...no more training, no more magic..." He closed his eyes then. "No more future."  
"Oh, geez...I'm sorry, Ark." Said Zell, and suddenly, he was aware of Ark's sadness; it sucked at his soul like a vacumn.   
He sat down at the foot of Zell's bed, looking strangely old in the moonlight. "Quistis was nice enough to get me a job here...so I wont have to leave. So I don't have to figure out what to do with my life."  
Zell wasn't sure what to say. "I'm so sorry, Ark."  
Ark grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him "God damnit, no, Zell, don't feel sorry for me. Never, ever, EVER.. You understand? Cause without you, I'd be dead. I don't want you to regret the decision."  
"How could I?" said Zell, suddenly aware of how very beautiful Ark was, bathed in silver, and how vulnerable.  
"I'm not sure what's going on, Zell. Not anymore."  
"Neither am I." Said Zell hoarsely.  
"Zell...I think I love you..." Said Ark  
Zell stammered, stuttered, and gasped. It didn't matter what was said after that. Because Ark knew, had known, what Zell's answer was.  
Suddenly Arks face split into a million glowing segments; the room around him warped, twisted, and everything fell into oblivion.   
It didn't matter anymore, nothing mattered.  
Zell awoke.  
  
"Ark..." Moaned Zell softly as he awoke.  
  
  
Quistis Trepe lay in her on the bridge of the Garden, sleeping softly.   
"...hyara to Quistis Trepe, I repeat, Shyara to Quistis Trepe...Quistis Trepe, please respond."  
The face of a women flashed up on the screen, who was slightly younger than Quistis. She was attractive enough, but posessed a severe, harsh mien that made Squall seem downright amiable.  
Quistis grogilly opened her eyes, and stared at Shyara. "Wha...?" She said stupidly.  
"My name is Shi, and I am Mr. Kenjiro's bodyguard. I have called to inform you that when you leave tommorow for the Ruins of Centra, both myself and Mr. Jennings will be accompaniang you." She said, in a swift a business-like manner.  
Quistis rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Can I ask you a question?" She asked Shi.  
Shi said nothing, but something on her face announced confirmation.  
"Why, praytell, does Kenjiro see fit to come along?"  
Her mud-and-silver eyes flickered. "Can I ask you a question?"  
Quistis was amused. This Shyara had parried her without missing a beat.  
"What do you expect to find there?" Asked Shi, a look of faint, so very faint, curiosity flashed across her face.  
"I expect," Said Quistis slowly. "To see no illusions."   
Nothing in her features changed, but her eyes showed a certain measure of...something. "Good answer." Shi paused. "And, to answer your question, Kenjiro Jennings is a creature of fear. He seeks the source of that fear." Suddenly, the barely perceptible hint of humanity was gone, and she was all buisness again. Her face might have been carved of stone. "Mr. Kenjiro and myself will await you outside of Deling City, promptly at noon. Sleep well."  
The face flicked off the screen, and left Quistis musing with her own thoughts.  
In the depths of midnight, we hunt a creature which destroys illusions...  
  
As the Ragnarok landed, leaving the stench of ozone in the air, a number of emotions which should have been coursing through her veins...didn't.  
Her employer Kenjiro was excited. This was on of the few times he had ever been outside Deling City. His father's antique service revolver, the only weapon he owned, was at his side in a new leather holster. He wore a pair of sunglasses that hid his strange, fearful eyes from the world.  
You fear me, don't you Jennings? For the very things that define me as a person.  
Part of her resented the fear.  
The other part wanted to encourage it, use it, make it grow.  
Three people stepped out of the Ragnarok.   
A girl, wearing yellow, and with a friendly smile on her face.  
A boy with an aura of manic energy tinged by sadness, pale under his tatoo.  
Another boy, this one with command eatched into every premature line of his face, and a scar that suited him perfectly right between his eyes.  
"Goooooooodddd Morning, Mr. Jennings!" Said Selphie. She paused when she saw Shi. "Hey, I know you.. Shyrara, right?"  
"Shi." She said simply.  
"Come on board." Said Squall. "Though, Mr. Jennings, I'm not certain that we can guarantee your safety."  
"Please, please, call me Kenjiro, Squall. And yes, I am aware, though it's a risk I'm willing to take." Said Kenjiro amiably.  
Squall nodded. "Lets be on our way."  
Shi grabbed their supplies, and waited for the rest of them to board. Alone as always with her own thoughts, she almost smiled inwardly as she thought;  
At the very least, this should be interesting.  
  
Rinoa pulled Zell to the side. "You okay, Zell? You seem kinda down."  
"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, though his smile failed more or less perfectly to reach his eyes.  
Shi was behind him. "Love?" She asked, hissing the word in his ear.  
Zell jerked up and whirled around, in a battle stance. "What the hell do you know, bitch?"  
"Zell." Cames Squalls warning from the cockpit.  
She said nothing, merely waited. She was a good three inches taller than he was and the affect was intimidating.  
"Yeah, whatever." Said Zell in disgust.  
"Not a good awnser." Said Shi, with a warning tone in her voice.  
"think I care? Listen upm She, or whatever your name is...."   
Her eyes flickered with... something, that might have been rage, hatred, or...amusement.  
"If you must know, yes." Said Zell with a sigh. "Satisfied?"  
She said nothing, merely nodded.  
  
Up in the cockpit, Squall was getting annoyed.  
"Why are we taking the Ragnarok instead of the Garden?" Asked Kenjiro.  
"Cause the Garden would take a week to get where we're going. For the Ragnarok, fifteen minutes." Said Squall, his far from unlimited patience with stupid questions wearing thin.  
"Fifteen minutes..." Said Kenjiro slowly. He went pale, and Squall suddenly noticed the faint mark of an old scar, that began at his cheek and went down sharply towards his neck.   
"Wow...only fifteen minutes till we arrive at Centra..." Said Kenjiro.  
"Actually, we can't land the Ragnarok next to the ruins. We have to start at the mouth of the river and raft to the forest. This means we might be camping for a few days." Said Rinoa from to copilot's seat.  
"Will it be...dangerous?"  
"There's always danger, Mr. Jenn...I mean, Kenjiro. Especially if this Terros guy is still knockin' around these ruins." Said Zell, walking into the cockpit.   
"Well...Shi is the best in the business, as are all of you. We should be fine." Said Kenjiro with just a twinge of fear in his voice.  
"She used to be a SeeD..." Said Selphie.   
Quistis turned around. "Really? I don't recall her..."  
"She went to Trabia Garden...she dropped out right after passing her final exams." Said Selphie.  
"Well, whatever." Said Irvine with a grin. "She's a fox."  
The compulsion for Squall to let go of the controls to rub the bridge of his nose was almost overwhelming.  
"She's also my bodyguard and a professional Iceberg, Mr. Kinneas. I would suggest you be careful how you speak to her." Said Kenjiro with a mild hint of distaste in his voice.  
"Nah, women are all the same." Said Irvine. "You just turn on the charm and they ca't get under the sheets fast enough..."  
"Zell, you're closest. Kick him." Said Rinoa.  
Zell did, so hard that afterwards Irvine was fairly sure he had three kneecaps.   
Selphie was next. "Can't get under the sheets fast enough, neh?" She backhanded him, hard across the face.  
"Pig." Muttered Quistis, and clouted him on the side of the head.  
Kenjiro was rocking with silent laughter.  
  
They landed the Ragnarok some two or three miles away from the entrance to the river.   
"Aren't there any monsters around here?" Asked Kenjiro.  
"Of course there are. It's eight against one, this time, however." Said Squall.  
Selphie stared out across the scorched landscape. "Isn't the White SeeD ship around here somewhere?"  
Quistis, carrying the small rubber cube that was their raft, nodded. "Probobly."  
"White SeeD?" Asked Kenjiro.  
Rinoa nodded. "Sort of Edea's and Ellone's personal guard. They like the Centra landscape, apparently."  
There was a gunshot as Irvine fired, the shots just barely missing Shi's head. "Head's up!"  
A massive spiked beast, much nastier than anything they should have encountered in this region, came at them with a roar.  
"Shit!" Shouted Quistis.   
Shi's weapon, a massive, antique gunblade, pitted with rust, was in her hands instantly. "Kenjiro, Behind us, NOW." She said.  
Jennings nodded and scrabbled behind them.  
The massive creature charged at Squall, who sidestepped out of the way and brought the electric blue gunblade down on the creature, splitting through it's armor and causing torrents of blood to gush from between it's massive, bony plates.  
The creature roared as Rinoa cast a powerful fire spell at it, blowing it backwards a few feet. It charged again, this time slamming into Selphie and throwing her several feet.  
"Selphie!" Shouted Quistis and a beam on green light shot from her fingertips to Selphie, mending bones and closing wounds instantly.  
Shi closed her eyes, spread on of her palms, and brilliant beams of orange light criss-crossed around the beast. Heat was building in the air as the ball of energy -and the creature- exploded in a flash of brilliant light.  
A few seconds later, a shower of gore fell from the sky, twisted, baked flesh that was once a monster, made into faceless carrion by the power of a truly powerful Flare.  
"Eeeew!" Cried Selphie. "I think it's frickin KIDNEYS are in my hair!"  
Kenjiro peered at Selphie. "Actually, that's it's aorta." He said helpfully.  
"EEEEEEEWW!!! Ick, ick, icky!" Selphie tried desperately to get it out of her head.  
Irvine turned to Squall, disgusted. "You know, blood STICKS to some people!" He shouted at Squalls immaculety clean clothing.  
Shi brushed something that bore and uncanny resemblance to a huge eyeball off her arm, and sheathed her gunblade.  
"That was quite an impressive spell, Shi." Said Quistis, a faint note of unease in her voice.  
"Thank you." She said, with no discernable trace of any human emotion.  
  
Squall heard the river long before he saw it. When he did see it...he was stunned.  
"That's not possible...How can that..." Said Rinoa, her eyes scanning the river with dismay.  
The river had nothing feeding it. No ocean, no lake. It simply appeared, 300 yards or so away from the coastline. It had a swiftly moving current, going to the north, though the ground sloped upward gently. The canyon which the river had carved, was strange as well. First there was the river, then, perhaps thirty feet from it's beginning, it entered the canyon.  
"This can't exist..." Said Kenjiro quietly.   
"Where does the river come from? And artesian well?" Asked Irvine.  
Squall said. "More importantly, how is it running uphill?"  
There was a loud hiss, a slapping of rubber against stone, and the raft Quistis had been holding inflated quickly. It was a large raft, obviously built for up to ten people.   
"Those questions we can solve later. Are you ready?" Asked Quistis.  
They hoisted the raft into the water, and with some trepidation, set off along the swiftly moving water.  
The current was swift and smooth. Irvine leaned against the rubber sides of the raft, enjoying the mist on his face, his rifle safely in it's case.  
"You're not seriously expecting to find Terros in here, are you?" Irvine asked Kenjiro. "I mean, ya know, you don't really believe that he exists."   
"I don't know what I expect to find..." Said Jennings. His eyes were masked by the silver lenses of his sunglasses. They offered no clues.  
"Then why are we here? Why would you spend all this money to get us all here, when it turns out there might be nothing at all...?" Asked Rinoa.  
"Your place is not to question." Snapped Kenjiro. "Merely obey."  
Squalls head snapped up. "Jennings..." He began in a warning tone of voice.  
"Hey...guys..." Said Selphie, staring upriver.  
Everyone turned to look. Up ahead, about 100 feet, there was a shimmer in the air, like the skin of a soap bubble. It was transparent, and yet nothing behind it was visible.  
"What the fuck is that...?" Asked Zell.  
Suddenly it was upon them, and noone could remember their questions anymore.  
Time slowed. The air was molten, burning. Breathing in was like inhaling melted glass.   
"What the hell is this?" Shouted Kenjiro, his voice echoing, turning in on itself, anf dissolving into the warped glass lense of the magic barrier.  
Strange, lilting music, like a zither and a harp combined, echoed around them from no discernable source.  
Squall reached to Rinoa by his side. Her body seemed to twist and warp to avoid his hand, before she flickered out of his vision, came back, and flickered out again.  
"RINOA!" Shouted Squall. Suddenly, they were all an infinite distance away, yet right next to him.  
A voice broke through the illusion with sudden clarity. "Weakness comes from within, strength from without. With this knowledge, face yourselves." A silver figure, solid like a rock in a storm, made of light and wind and mercury, raised it's hands, and a whirlwind of images enveloped them all.  
Arks smiling face swam into their field of vision. "I love you, Zell, you know that..."  
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" said Rinoa's voice. "Please...just let me go..." Ultimecia's laughter, from inside Rinoa's mind, was the only awnser.  
"I wish that was enough to base a relationship on, but it's not..." Said Ark, His face and features blurring with Ultimecia's.  
Ultimecia/Rinoa's hand deactivated Adel's prison, awaiting the Lunar cry to free her so that Ultimecia might come to power...  
Rinoa's eyes, the real Rinao's, were full of tears, and Zell had gone pale.  
"Dad...Dad...put down the knife...DAD!" An older man, Xavier Jennings, held a knife in front of Kenjiro's youthful face.  
"You little bastard..." Said Kenjiro's father. He was drunk. His breath smelled like whiskey and mustard gas.  
There was a blinding pain and a gush of blood; so much pain, pain that was the whole of Kenjiro's universe; The knife had crunched through the bones of his cheek and slashed his carotid artery; the fourteen year olds lifeblood gushed out with every beat of his weakening heart. There was a flash of pain...his father had hit him with the pommel of the still dripping dagger, and blackness...  
"No!" Screamed Kenjiro. "Stop, please!" He sobbed.  
The silver being showed no mercy.  
Trabia garden; destroyed. The once beautiful Garden reduced to rubble; the once proud home of Trabia's SeeD nothing but ruin.  
"No!" Selphie screamed.  
A little boy, Squall, so many years ago, was crying. "Sis, please don't leave..." He clung to the older girl, Ellone, tighter.  
"I'll come back, Squally...I promise..." Said Ellone  
"You promise...?" He said.  
"Yeah." Said Ellone, sqeezing his hand. "Make sure Seifer dosn't tease Zell so much, okay?"  
"Yeah." Said Squall.  
"Hello? Hello? Is anybody out there?" Cried Selphie. "Hello? Anybody?" The howling wind around Trabia offered no answers.  
"Sis isn't coming back, is she, Matron?"   
Edea, Matron, smiled at Squall. "Of course she will. Don't worry."  
Thoughts whirled in Irvines head. He held the sniper rifle, poised at Matron, his mother, who noone else remembered but him.  
I'm sorry Matron. Thought Irvine. I'm sorry I have to do this.  
He fired. The bullet hit a wall of light. Part of him was glad, another part of him feared for the future.  
"What is this? Why are you doing this?" Shouted Quistis to the faceless being. She was aware the river was still flowing.  
I am what you make of me... Said the creature.  
"Terros..." Said Shi.  
Perhaps...  
  
Squall...he was so beautiful, yet she was only a teacher to him, could never be anything else... Never, ever. The great Lion could never be her's... evn then she knew he bolonged with the girl he had danced with...though he didn't know her name. Quistis had never seen it before, but somehow, she recognized destiny.  
Again it was Kenjiro, young again. The tiny boy, limbs blue, curls up into a ball in the snow which was pink from blood. Desire and vulnerability and protectiveness washed over them like a storm...  
Shi went pale as the contents of her psyche were bared; as all of theirs were; the raw, unending storm of humanity.  
"I'm sorry, Zell...So Sorry..."  
"Who would do this to Trabia?!? WHY?!?"  
Matron...forgive me...  
GETOUTOFMYHEAD!!  
Ark...  
Trabia...  
Matron...  
Squall...  
Kenjiro.  
"Holy shit, ROCK!" Screamed Zell as, suddenly, the illusion was gone. The raft slammed into the massive stone, he was flying through the air, screaming, no one heard him, the water was below him, he was going to die...  
Blackness.  
  
Drops of blood in purest snow, like his eyes, his beautiful, strange, haunted eyes. The child, crying, curled up in the snow bank stained pink from blood gushing from his neck. He was still a child, he was still afraid of his father...  
His father was dead, because I killed him...  
She remembered that day.   
`"Shi! Shi! Wake up, god damnit!" There was a pumping on her chest.  
She had heard the stories. When the Senior Jennings was drunk, nothing was sacred. He had attempted to rape her; before he layed one finger on her, he was dead. The life flickering out of his eyes, not maroon like his son, Kenjiro, but icy blue, the cold, cruel, evil blue of winter.  
Shyara sputtered and coughed. She rolled over on her side, and gave a stomache full of water back to the swirling river.  
"Hey, you okay?" It was Irvine. He flashed her his most charming smile. "You weren't breathing for a while there. I had to use CPR."  
Shi sighed inwardly. Great, of all the opening scenes from badly plotted porn movies, she had to reinact one with the biggest womanizer this side of Esthar.  
She stood up, shaking from the cold river water. Kenjiro was sitting on a stone, drinking something from a battered tin cup.  
Kinneas handed her another tin cup, this one not so badly dented; it was full of coffee. She took a sip. It was bad, extremely bad, but it was hot and she felt the cold being driven from her body.  
Shi asked Irvine. "Is everyone accounted for?"  
Irvine winced. "Everyone except Zell and Rinoa... Quistis and Squall are walking along the river bank, searching for them. After we got out of that barrier thing, we hit a rock. I think Zell went flying. The rest of us managed to stay inside the raft, but it tipped over and we all got tossed. Zell and Rinoa, they must have gotten swept into a different current or something, cause we all landed in pretty much the same place."  
Shi patted her wet clothing, looking for her gunblade. Enjoy the show, kinneas.  
"Where's my gunblade?" Her eyes flashed steel.   
"Squall has it. We hadn't found his, so he when he went looking with Quistis, he took yours."  
Anger flared up within her, though not one iota of it reached her face. She surpressed it. His weapon wasn't found, he had to go looking for survivors. It was in the best interests of the party. Get over it."  
Irvine took off his coat and held it out to her. "I think you need this more than I do...You're not exactly dressed for cold weather, ya know."  
Indeed she wasn't. She was wearing a fishnet shirt under a multicolored tank top, and a short black skirt. The only warming thing she wore was a short, black coat that came down only about an inch farther than the skirt did. "I'm fine." She snapped.  
Irvine shrugged. "Okay." He put the waterlogged coat back on, and walked back to the others.  
Shi stood up, groggily, she went over and say beside Kenjiro. His eyes flicked to hers. IT seemed he had lost his sunglasses in the river.  
"You okay?" He asked, smooth and mannerly. His pills had survived, apparently.  
"Yeah...I'm fine...could be better." She said.  
He smiled. "That's the most words you've ever used in a sentence towards me." Suddenly, he stiffened. "Did you...see anything when we that barrier, did you see...anything?"  
I saw that which destroys illusions. She thought to herself. Out loud, she said "I saw...many things."  
His voice grew quiet. "Did you see my...my father?" He had paled again, and the old scar was visible again.  
"I...don't remember. It's all sort of a blur." She lied.  
There was a crunching of underbrush. Quistis and Squall were back. Squall was carrying her gunblade.   
"Any luck?" Asked Selphie.   
Squall sighed. "No..." He sighed and sat down on a stone. "You think they're together? I mean, Rinoa and Zell."   
"Maybe. Squall, they're alive." Said Quistis. "Rinoa's the sorceress, and Zell is the best fighter in the Garden. They'll be fine." Quistis had a deep, crescent shaped gash on one cheek.  
"Something just occured to me... how are we gonna get back to the Ragnarok?" Asked Selphie.  
"Shit." Squall leaned back against the rock. "Zell and....Rinoa are missing, we lost most of our supplies, now we can't get back...jesus."  
"Squall?" Said a voice from the river.   
"RINOA!" Shouted Squall, as he ran down, splashing through the water. Definately the worse for wear, but still alive, Rinoa stood in the river.   
"Squall...Irvy...Quisty...Zell's dead..." She gasped.  
Squall was close to her now, close enough to see the cuts and lesions that covered her perfect face. He reached out to touch her, to hold her, and...  
BANG  
Rinoa simply exploded. Bits of brain and bone and showered all over him.  
Irvine stood up on the rock, rifle smoking, a belt of AP ammo in his hands.   
"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Screamed Squall, eyes flaring into sadness, then to all consuming rage. "What the fuck have you done to Rinoa..."  
"Squall...listen to me..." Began Irvine.   
"YOU KILLED HER!"   
Quistis was sloshing through the water, torwards him.  
Her blow was a hard one, to the side of his face. Irvine's face twisted out of focus, then sharpened again.  
"SQUALL. WHEN. WAS. THE. LAST. TIME. SHE. CALLED. ME. IRVY?" Irvine shouted at him.  
"FUCK!" Screamed Kenjiro. His pistol was in his hand, and he fired off all six shots at something that had appeared in the water behind them.   
A massive, disgusting beast, all slime and tentacles, arose from the water. Kenjiro's bullets dissapeared within it's flesh.  
"I am...Doppleganger...Terro's servant..." Growled the thing in a thick, gutteral voice.  
"Really? Say hi to him for me!" Said Irvine, cocking his shotgun. He blew off one of the creatures myriad tentacles.  
Squall and Quistis leapt onto the rock beside. Doppleganger roared, and beams of lightning engulfed the entire clearing. Squall fell his knees from the power of the spell, while Quistis, who absorbed the stuff, muttered. "Siren."  
Music flickered in and out of hearing, as Siren played her harp, engulfing Doppleganger in glowing light.  
Doppleganger thrashed against the power of Siren's magic voice.  
Shi leapt onto the rock behind them, and said, in a loud, shouted voice. "LUNA!"  
In a cloud of silver light, A woman appeared, clad only in beauty and silver, and silver light gathered, and water, masses of water, summoned by the Tidal power of the moon, slammed into Doppleganger with the force of repeated Tsunami.  
Doppleganger was bleeding. Gushes of green blood flowed into the river as Squall leapt, his gunblade flashing with electric blue fire and he slashed deep into the flesh of the creature, ending it's life in a single swipe of his legendary blade.  
Quistis thought to herself. The creature which destroys illusions, and the creature that creates them? They both serve Terros...  
  
"Hey Zell." Said Rinoa as she sat down next to him. "You think the others are okay?"   
Zell, who was staring out at the river, managed a half-hearted lunatic grin. "Yeah. I mean, c'mon, you think that some little river is going to claim the Iceberg of Balamb?"   
She punched him on the shoulder. "The river thing was...odd." She was looking at him, scanning his features carefully.  
"Yeah...strange." Said Zell. All of their secrets, ripped from their souls and thrown back at them. It had been, if anything, worse than Time Compression.  
"So who is he?" Asked Rinoa.  
Zell snapped out of his stupor. "Wha...?"  
"C'mon, the kid in your memory. He's obviously important to you." She said. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."  
"Arcturus...I mean, Ark." He sighed and stared up at the canopy of trees. So little light was getting through the lense of leaves.  
"Oh...the kid at the library? The one in the reaaaalllly big jacket?" She said.  
"Yeah...I gave him that jacket, you know. IT was my grandfathers...we had been training out in the rain, he was wearing a tank top...I gave him the jacket. He didn't have much in the way of clothes back then. Still dosn't, apparently." Said Zell.  
"That's called stalling, Zell. What, you think I'm gonna think less of you, or something?" Said Rinoa, incredulously.   
"Fine... we had a fight before we left, we broke it off. Is that enough?" He snapped.   
She jerked backwards. "I'm sorry, geez."   
"Don't be sorry... It's just kinda a sore spot with me, you know?" He sighed.  
"I understand. "  
Damnit, Ark was right. I WAS always leaving. No matter how trivial...Jesus christ, I should have stayed.  
Suddenly, there was a scream, and a loud, familiar roar.  
"T-Rexuar. C'mon!" Said Rinoa and she leapt down from rock to rock.   
Zell jerked up, and ran after her.   
The T-Rexuar was roaring at a boy in a tree. The boy was little more than, say, ten years old. The little boy's eyes met Zells.  
Eternal suffering, I will be in pain forever if you do not help, help, help HELP.  
Zell had never seen someone cast Blizzaga on water, and the sight was worth it. Swirling currents of freezing blue light poured gracefully down Rinoa's body, and frost gathered in her hair as the water beneath them froze into a hissing crust of ice. Crystals of ice, spears of ice, boulders of ice, all formed beneath and above the massive T-rexuar, trapping it in a matrix of ice. It roared, then turned around and Charged at them, obviously injured.  
"Bahamut...come to me..." Muttered Rinoa. There was a dragon's roar, and blazing balls of energy slammed through the forest's canopy, striking the T-Rexuar and searing it's flesh to cinders instantly. The steaming, baked husk fell on it's side with an audible tremor.  
Damn. Thought Zell. So that's why you never mess with a Soceress.  
"You okay? Called Rinoa to the boy in the tree. The boy leapt out of it, lithe and graceful, and landed.  
The kids golden eyes flickered back and fourth. "Three tests so far...Terros is impressed. The mercenaries before you didn't make it past the Barrier."  
Rinao stiffened. "Terros...?" She backed away.  
The child laughed. "Yes and no, little girl, yes and no." Suddenly, his golden eyes turned a stormy blue. "Terros knows you're here to kill him... Do you still wish to continue?"   
"I'm afraid we do." Said Rinoa, with finality.  
His eyes were golden again. "Honesty... an admirable trait. You're close to your goal, Terros awaits you." He pointed downstream. "About four miles that way, you'll find the others." He grinned, and impish, childish grin, and he said to Zell, "By the way, you're right. You should have."   
"Should have what?" Asked Zell.  
"Should have stayed. With Ark. He's more important to you and to the future than either of you can comprehend." The golden eyes mocked.  
"The hell..." Began Zell, before the child vanished, laughing.  
  
Ark dreamt.  
"C'mon, you coward!" Shouted Zell, his boots dug into the soft, rain softened soil of the Training Center.  
"This probably isn't the best place for a duel, Zell…" Said Ark, eyeing the moving underbrush warily.  
"Why?" Zell grinned. "You scared?"  
"Hell no, bitch." Crowed Ark. "Just worried about you." He sneered. "Bring it on, Dincth."  
Zell threw a punch. Ark dived out of the way, the blow grazed his ear. Ark got up, and tried to punch Zell back; however, fist fighting was not something his fencing instructor had put much emphasis on. Zell caught the punch, and kneed Ark in the stomache.  
Zell laughed insanely, and let him go. "Geez, man, we need to teach you to punch. Okay, now straighten you arms…don't put your thumb there, you'll break it…okay…try to punch now…"   
There was a blast of pain, and Zell landed on his ass on the wooden dock. Ark span slightly out of focus, his fifteen year old face grinning.  
"I'm a fast learner, Zell-boy." Ark grinned as Zell, somewhat woozily, got up.  
Zell came at him in a flurry and puches and kicks. Ark kneed him in the jaw just as Zell kicked his legs out from under him.  
Thunder forked the sky, very close. Rain began to pour, heavy, into the open roof of the training center.  
"Ark, man, maybe we should go in now…it's already…SHIT! We're late for curfew!" Shouted Zell.  
Ark laughed. An ugly purple bruise was forming on his jaws and cheek. "Oh, like that's ever stopped you before."  
"Oh, and Ark…You're not dressed for rain, you know." Said Zell.  
Ark was drenched, and wearing a dark blue tank top and cutoff black jeans. He continued to grin. "I don't have much in the way of clothes, Zell. Can't exactly go shopping in Balamb, can I?"  
"C'mon, lets head back." Insisted Zell.   
Ark muttered something about a lame ass straight arrow, but offered no serious complaint as he shivered, barely, from the cold.  
They got back to the Dorms, creeping through the halls, dripping puddles of muddy water.  
Ark was about to go back to his room, when Zell said "Hey… Arcturus. I have this old coat of my grandfathers…you want it?"  
"Why? Did he die in it, or something?" Asked Ark, laughing.   
"NO! It's just, It's waaayyy to big for me…and since you're taller…" He held up a huge, massive, heavy black combat jacket. The sleeves made it look at though his grandfathers arms had been longer then Ark's legs.   
Zell put it over Ark's shoulder, who made a face but was secretly pleased.  
"Hey, thanks man." Said Ark, fingering the thick, coarse fabric. Zell didn't know how truly lucky he was, to have a family. He didn't know how hard it was dor Ark to find viable alternatives to his SeeD cadet uniform.  
"No prob…does it fit?" Asked Zell, grinning.  
"Umm, like a glove." Ark put it on. IT was so long it brushed the floor, and the sleeves were down to his knees. He looked like a little kid trying on his father's dinner jacket. He rolled up to sleeves, several times, his hands barely visible among the fold of the black fabric.  
Zell laughed. "Well, you can keep it. You need it, anyway." He yawned. "Night, Ark."  
"Goodnight, Zell." Said Ark, smiling as he walked back to his own dormitory.   
  
"Oh, who the fuck am I kidding…" Muttered Ark as he awoke.  
  
WhereisshewhereisshewherisSHE?!?! A loud, obnoxious voice was screaming in Squall's brain.   
Gotta find Rinoa... Gotta find Rinoa...and Zell, I suppose, but mostly Rinoa damnit.  
"RINOA!!!" Called Irvine. "C'MON! RINOA! IF YOU DON'T SHOW UP SQUALL WILL PROBABLY END UP WITH QUISTIS!!!"  
Quistis, not wasting any time, planted her foot soundly into the base of Irvine's spine and pushed him into the river  
"BITCH!" Irvine sputtered, coughed, and grabbed Quistis' ankle and yanked her into the river.   
"ACK!" Cried Quistis as she fell under the water. Irvine, laughing, dunked her.   
"YOU TWO! ENOUGH!" Roared Squall. "We have to find..." Squall was unable to finish his sentence as Quistis and Irvine both grabbed hold of one of his legs and dragged him in.  
Squall, enraged, shouted "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!?!?"  
Quistis responded by splashing him.  
As a rather violent splash fight had broken out between Quistis, Squall, and Irvine, and Shi over looked them, sneering. "Childish."   
Kenjiro, smiling, came up behind her. "Shyara?"  
"Yes, Mr. Jennings?"  
"Bye." He said, grinning.  
Realitzation dawned in her eye. "Oh no you don't...JESUS!" She cried as Kenjiro pushed her off the rock and into the river.  
Kenjiro was busily laughing his ass off when a voice came from behind them. "Nice to know you've been searching so busily." Said Rinoa, bemused.  
Zell was behind her. "I don't even wanna know how this started." He said, shaking his head.  
A rather thoroughly drenched Shyara hoisted herself out of the river, her eyes promising death.  
"Umm...heh heh, it was just a joke, Shi..." Said Kenjiro nervously.  
"RINOA!" Shouted Squall as he climbed out.  
She grinned. "You didn't think I'd be okay?" She ruffled his sopping wet hair. "You should know better by now." They kissed so long that Quistis decided to dry herself off somewhere else.   
Zell muttered something about no giving him a kiss as he sat down. "We're close to the Ruins, now, you know."  
"How can you know that?" Asked Kenjiro.  
"Simple. I climbed a tree and took a look. We're about six miles away." Said Zell, opening his canteen and taking a drink.  
"Hmm." Said Squall as he looked upwards, to the darkening sky. "I think we should set up camp. It's getting dark and I think we could all use a rest. And a chance to dry off." He said, shooting a vicious glare at Quistis and Irvine.  
  
A rustle of scarlet silk, a tap of booted feet on marble. A servant kneeling before his master.  
"They're close, my lord." The servant's golden eyes stared at the floor.  
A sharp, hissing breath. "Is he with them?"  
"Your son? No, my lord."  
"How close?"  
"A few hours walk, but they've stopped to camp for the night, my lord."  
A sigh, deep with the woes of wasted centuries.   
"And they mean to kill me?"  
"Yes, my lord."  
"Very well. Alert me of when they sleep... send Fenrir after them."   
"It shall be done, my lord." The servant stood, bowed, and vanished.  
Terros, The Unmaker of Time, wished he could vanish as the servant did. To his private chambers, where he might have the privacy to confront his fate. His destiny.  
As it stood, he could only retreat like an ordinary man.  
  
It was late.  
Squall, Quistis, Zell, Kenjiro and Shi still sat around the campfire. The glowing embers were dying.  
"Dude, someone should put more wood on the fire." Said Zell. "I'm freezing my ass off over here."  
"You could get some yourself, you know." Said Quistis sharply.  
"Yeah, I could." Said Zell airily, not moving.  
"You guys nervous?" Asked Kenjiro out of the blue.  
Squall shrugged. "Fine line between caution and fear, Mr. Jennings. We're cautious, but we're SeeD. We'll do our job."  
"Kenjiro, will you answer a question and not get snippy this time?" Asked Zell, poking the fire with a stick.  
Shi stiffened. "Listen, Dinct..she began, but Kenjiro waved his hand at her.  
"It's alright. Shoot." Said Kenjiro, his scarlet eyes glowing in the light of the dying fire.  
"Why exactly are we going after this Terros? What's he to you?" Asked Zell.  
Kenjiro shrugged. "Public service."  
"Bullshit."  
Quistis poked Zell in the ribs, hard.  
Kenjiro put his cup of coffee down and gave Zell a piercing look. "He's supposed to be fabulously wealthy."  
"You're telling me we're out here, risking our lives, for some most likely non-existant demonic aristocrat? " Zell scoffed. "Kenjiro, baby, if those are the terms I should have stayed behind."  
Kenjiros eyes flickered. "Why, concerned about your boyfriend?" He sneered.  
There was a blur of motion and Kenjiro toppled backwards blood streaming from his mouth. Zell was standing over him. "If you ever FUCKING say anything about Ark I SWEAR all that'll be left is a STAIN, pal..."  
Shi leapt up, her rusted gunblade in hand, and quickly closed the six feet between with two giant steps. "Back the fuck away, Dincth, or I beat your spikey ass out of existence, got it?" She used a Curaga on Kenjiro, the healing light mending his broken jaw.  
"Hey, listen, any time you feel like a fight, you bitch, you can just ask for one..."  
"Stupid blonde dickhead, If you touch him again I promise I'll..."  
"Come over here and say that!"  
"Fine I will, you worthless little twerp!"  
"Trigger happy bitch...!"  
"Hyperactive asshole...!"  
"Worthless peice of crap...!"  
There was a scream.  
A huge, black wolf, the size of a school bus, smashed through the treesa few hundred feet down river, and came barreling torwards them.  
"DOOMTRAIN!" Said Zell. The ghostly, etheral locomotive slammed into the wolf, but did little to halt it's progress.  
It leapt into the air, twenty feet, and landed between them, scattering the wood and coals from the campfire and throwing them all fro the force of the impact.  
"BACK!" Shouted Quistis, cracking her whip, and she cast a holy spell at it. The creature shrugged it off then charged.  
"SHIT!" Screamed Quistis, who dove out of the way of the wolf, who turned and charged again.  
Kenjiro, in the bushes, began firing shots at the massive beast, hoping for a miracle.  
He got one.  
The bullet slammed into the creatures eye, and it howled in agony, and began thrashing, spilling mass quantities of blood.  
Squall cast Firaga, engulfing the wolf in flame. It howled, and with a whimper, fell to the ground with the thud.  
"FENRIR!!" Cried a new voice. Squall caught a glimpse of it's source before a ball of silver fire engulfed the Guardian Force, Fenrir, and filled the clearing with a roaring rush of wind and blinding silver light.  
The light faded, and Fenrir was gone.  
  
A few hours later they set off for the ruins, glancing over their shoulder expectantly to see if they were being followed.  
"There was a fight." Said Irvine emphatically. "And I MISSED it?"  
"All you missed was a big, nasty wolf who shrugged off just about everything we threw at it." Said Quistis. "That's all."  
"Well, damn." Said Irvine. "Who woulda known we'd be saved by some rich kids gold plated peashooter?" He glanced at Kenjiro, who seemed to have had a distinct masculine swagger affixed to his persona that everyone else found immensely irritating.   
"How far away are we, again?" Called Selphie from the back of the line. "I'm getting tired."  
"Not much further. In fact, we should be there any minute now." Said Squall from the front.  
Rinoa said "So you think the GF proves that Terros is out here?" She asked, sidling up next to Squall.  
Quistis shrugged. "It might have been a wild GF, who knows. I don't remember Ark mentioning Terros having a GF when I spoke to him."  
"He also didn't mention the big swirling barrier or nasty shapeshifters who like to impersonate your girlfriend, either." Said Irvine.  
Quistis shrugged. "Well, I guess noone knows for sure."  
They broke into a clearing in the forest. Inside, was...  
"Well I'll be dipped in shit." Said Irvine, staring upwards at the huge, glittering monolith of stone and marble that stood before them. "I'll be damned."  
"I thought you said you'd be dipped in shit." Said Rinoa.  
"Both, I guess." Irvine stared. "Gotta be something we can snatch..."  
"That's not why we're here." Said Quistis.  
"Are you ready to enter?" Said a light, young voice.  
Everyone jumped.  
It was the child from before, though he was no longer a child. His limbs were the long, lanky ones of a adolescent and and faint brush of acne fringed his golden eyes in pink.  
"Who are you?" Asked Squall.  
The youth narrowed his eyes and took an aggressive stance. "Do you want in the palace, or not?"  
"Umm, yes we do." Said Quistis.  
The child nodded. "Follow."   
He led them through a courtyard that made mockery of physical laws. A fountain where the water flowed smoothly upwards, then downwards,   
tiwisting and warping before the entire fountain faded out of existence, or failed to be noticable, or transformed into something else. The ground beneth them schanged from sand to lush grass to burnt earth and back again.  
"What the fuck is this?" Asked Zell, tripping as a rock that hadn't been there a few seconds ago suddenly appeared.  
"Terros garden. This is how he experiences time; birth and death combined into one Moment." Said the voice of an old, ancient man, who occupied the space where once the child stood.   
His golden eyes were still there, though fogged and blurred by cataracts.  
Rinoa jerked around. "What are you...?"  
The old man, who was very, very rapidly getting younger again, said "I am... there is no word in your language. The best description would be that I am the Everlasting moment, and   
that instead of always existing in infinite moments, I always exist in this one, and the next, seperately and exclusively. I leave no trail across time, for I exist only in the present as past and future combined."  
Even Shi looked confused. "What...?" Asked Rinoa. "Did he answer my question?"   
The man, who now could pass as a man of his mid thirties as opposed to mid seventies just a few seconds ago. "No. You're not meant to understand. Come." He led them inside the palace  
  
  



End file.
